Friday Roundup, March 8

Senior right-hander Pauly Milto turned in the best outing of his impressive IU career. (Indiana Athletics.)

With the non-conference slate winding down and teams having nearly a dozen games under their belt, it’s beginning to be more clear what can be excepted of Big Ten teams to come. And if Friday’s results were any indication, what is to come is an incredibly competitive conference season where no weekend will be a gimme.

Here’s a roundup of a big night for Big Ten baseball.

Scores

Illinois (8-3) @ Grand Canyon (6-7), W, 6-3

Indiana (7-5) vs. Washington (8-3), W, 1-0

Maryland (8-4) @ Stetson (5-7), W, 7-0

#18 Michigan (9-2) @ #2 UCLA (9-3), W, 7-5

Minnesota (2-9) vs. #7 Oregon State (11-1), L 2-1

Nebraska (5-6) @ #25 Baylor (9-3), W, 12-4

Northwestern (4-7) @ Missouri (7-5), L, 3-2

Penn State (8-2) @ Central Florida (9-3), W, 5-2

Michigan State vs. Western Carolina, CLD

Ohio State vs. Furman PPD

Rutgers @ USC Upstate PPD

Rankings reflective of Baseball America’s March 4 top 25.

Friday highlights

The Big Ten makes some big noise

Just a look at yesterday’s scoreboard reveals a big day for the Big Ten. The conference grabbed two road wins against top 25 clubs, while going 6-2 overall. And the the two losses were one-run contest against Power 5 opponents. The most runs a team allowed were UCLA’s five against Michigan, as the conference outscored the opposition 41-19. The conference has collectively had an up-and-down first three weeks, but now with conference play around the corner, it appears teams are coming into form.

Pauly Milto’s career-defining performance

Slowly, but very steadily and surely, Indiana right-hander Pauly Milto is carving space in the Indiana record books and is set to graduate as one of the Hoosiers best pitchers in program history. With a 2.87 ERA over 213.1 career innings, the numbers support the argument. And now, Milto has a defining outing that will live in the memories of Hoosier faithful well beyond his four-year career in Bloomington. The final game on opening day of the Seattle Baseball Showcase at T-Mobile Park, Milto was dominant against Washington, a 2018 College World Series participant and team entering with only two defeats over the 10 games in 2019.

In eight innings, Milto allowed just one hit, walked one batter and hit another, to face just three batters over the minimum. The senior struck out six batters in a 104-pitch outing, throwing 68 for strikes. Milto’s dominance on the mound was needed as the Hoosiers were held to just six hits, but Drew Ashley’s two-out single to left, scoring Cole Barr, was enough to give Indiana a key win.

Max Meyer’s statement-making first start

Before Milto silenced the Huskies, except for one pitch, Minnesota’s Max Meyer gave everything the Gophers could have asked for in his first career start, also twirling a gem. With Minnesota looking to turn around an 2-8 start, Meyer was moved into the Gopher rotation, following a 4.2-inning relief appearance at No. 23 North Carolina State, where the sophomore right-hander allowed one run and struck out four. In his second consecutive outing against a ranked team, Meyer gave John Anderson a career-high six innings against Oregon State, striking out eight batters without issuing a walk, and allowed only four hits. But one of the hits was a two-run home run against fellow USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member Adley Rutschman, one of the top two MLB Draft prospects. The 2-1 loss will sting, but Meyer showed he has the ability to go deep into contests, and if he can stymie a top five team the way he did last night, the season’s outlook is a lot brighter for Minnesota.

Penn State continues hot start

They didn’t defeat a ranked team, but Penn State knocking off Central Florida on the road might have been the most eye-catching result. Coming off of a 15-win season, few outside of State College expected much of the Nittany Lions. But a 7-2 showing after three weekends brought a little attention to what Rob Cooper’s club is doing in the early part of 2019, a spotlight surely to grow larger after holding an UCF team who entered the weekend at 9-3, to three hits. Sophomore Mason Mellott continues to shine as a stretch-reliever, pitching the final three innings without allowing a run, supporting 3-for-5 efforts by Jordan Bowersox and Parker Hendershot.

Tommy Henry’s B-game still plenty good

It wasn’t his best performance, but Wolverine junior left-handed pitcher Tommy Henry was still plenty good, leading Michigan to the road upset over UCLA. Michigan’s 7-5 win was the program’s first over a top five team since defeating #4 Illinois in the 2015 Big Ten Tournament. Entering the contest without conceding a run in 23 innings, the Bruins did tag Henry for two runs and six hits over six innings, but the southpaw’s 10 strikeouts to two walks helped keep the bears at bay, and push Michigan to 9-2 on the year.

Maryland’s Costes is picking up where his brother left off

With senior right-handed pitcher Hunter Parsons quieting the Hatters, Parsons scattered six hits over seven innings, with 10 strikeouts to one walk, freshman Maxwell Costes provided all of the offense the Terps would need. Now 8-4 on the young season with the 7-0 road win at Stetson, Maryland saw Costes go 2-for-3 with a walk, home run, two runs and RBI out of the cleanup spot. With a team-leading .326 average, two home runs and a 1.013 OPS, Costes is continuing the family trend of being a force in the heart of the Maryland lineup, more than adequately filling the shoes of Marty Costes, who was a 22nd-round draft pick of the Houston Astros following a three-year career in College Park.

Sweet swinging Jack Yalowitz is back

Following a breakout 2017 season, where he batted .335 with 12 home runs and 10 stolen bases as a sophomore, expectations were high for Illinois outfielder Jack Yalowitz in 2018. But the draft season played out in a surprising manner, with his average dropping to .216 and power dipping to four home runs. Back in Champaign for a senior season, Yalowitz is reverting to his 2017 form and giving the Illini the production they need to break a four-year NCAA Tournament drought. Powering Illinois to a 6-3 win over Grand Canyon, Yalowitz matched career highs with four hits, two home runs and five RBI. Helping Illinois to an 8-3 start, the former first-team all-conference outfielder is batting .350.

Nebraska finds the long ball, again, and again

Through their first 10 games, Nebraska had yet to hit a home run. The Huskers were able to find the long ball on Friday, then had so much fun they did it twice in the same inning. Just two batters in, senior shortstop Angelo Altavilla blasted a two-run home run, then three batters later it was junior catcher Luke Roskam’s turn to dial up a two-run long ball. En route to routing Baylor, 12-4, Altavilla hit his second home run of the game in the top of the ninth, to cap a five-RBI night. Roskam added three more hits, in addition to his home run in the first, to go 4-for-6 with two runs and four RBI. On the mound, senior right-hander Matt Waldron allowing two runs, one earned, over seven innings, striking out eight batters without issuing a walk.